Irene Cara was the voice of ambition – both its power and limits - Salon

Triumphant. This was the voice of someone who swore they would make it.

Irene Cara sang the theme song for the 1980 film "Fame"— and she was fame embodied, America's favorite myth of hard work and perseverance.

She will always embody the time period of my childhood, but more that, Cara will forever be the voice of ambition, singing of the pull and power of desire, of fighting for and getting exactly what you want.

She attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan, ironically, a school mocked by the public school students in "Fame." By 13, she appeared regularly on the children's public television program "The Electric Company." After appearing in "Sparkle" and "Roots: The Next Generation," she was barely older than a teenager when she starred as Coco Hernandez in "Fame," the film for which she also sang the title song.

Irene Cara, star of the hit movie "Fame," on the Soul Train stage, episode 337, aired 10/4/1980.

(Soul Train via Getty Images)As Coco in "Fame," Cara is a driven and determined young star.

"Take your passion/And make it happen" felt less like a catchy phrase and more like a prayer.

Though "Flashdance" is Beals' film, a star-making turn where Beals plays a steelworker by day and bar dancer who dreams of dance school at night, Cara is its voice, and as such, its beating but broken heart.

We couldn't have yet known the years, hard work and heartache behind lyrics like, "I can have it all, now I'm dancing for my life," but we believed her forceful truth. "Take your passion/And make it happen" felt less like a catchy phrase and more like a prayer, a spell Cara was casting of dreams.

Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri) tries to convince Coco Hernandez (Irene Cara) that they should form a rock band, in a scene from 'Fame', directed by Alan Parker, 1980.

But "Make it happen," Cara purred. .